Meet the Developers

Aikar is the Lead Developer and Owner of Empire Minecraft. He is responsible for overseeing the developer team and custom coding all of our amazing features. He is also the owner of EMC. He joined on January 20th, 2012. For more information, please visit the Meet the Admins page.

While also being a developer, chickeneer is additionally part of the Senior Staff team. For more information, please visit the Meet the Senior Staff page.

Elite joined the Developer Team on May 23rd, 2018. He joined EMC on March 9th, 2012. "It was actually two people that brought me to EMC, in early 2012, they went to school with me, they ended up leaving and I stayed ever since."
Favorite animal and why: Kittens, because they're so adorable and fluffy <3
Favorite website: I love to be able to make my own websites, the latest one I'mma work on is going to be: https://elite.blue
Favorite thing about EMC: The history. Unlike other servers, our playerbase and even promo items have a story behind them.
Favorite color and why: I like a medium blue or purple - Because it's vibrant but still dark enough to soothe my eyes.
Favorite Minecraft feature: Pistons - I liked the ability to move blocks without breaking, this furthered in my ease of designing redstone builds.
Favorite Minecraft block: Dirt - Oh how you can use it to easily help construct things, and tear it down just as fast using a shovel. It's so underrated.
If you were a mob in Minecraft, what would you be and what would you do? I'd be a villager, trading all these players goodies everyday, and I'm secretly just storing a cache of all of their emeralds.
Favorite music: Depends on my mood and what I'm doing. If I want to jam out while programming, then BounceStep or Techno. If I'm driving, then Indie Folk.
Pets? Nope
If you had to lose one sense, what would it be? Nociception - The ability to feel pain
Favorite cookie: Sugar cookie, mmm
Favorite quote: "A small thing repeated often enough, is a big thing." -JRP
If you could meet one person, who would it be? Nikola Tesla, because his inventions mostly resemble the things I aim towards getting accomplished.

While also being a developer, JDHallows is additionally part of the Senior Staff team. For more information, please visit the Meet the Senior Staff page.

Sazukemono joined the Moderation Team on October 1st,2017. She joined the Developer Team on June 20th, 2018. She joined EMC on February 27th,2016
"I just wanted a place to play Minecraft where I could build things and farm things with a nice Community - without super buggy or outdated servers. I stayed because I got so much more than I could have hoped to expect from a server back then EMC has definitely spoiled me for all other Minecraft servers."

What do you like to do IRL? I like to read and I love to write. Mostly I write Fantasy/Fiction works, with some Sci-Fi tossed in for spice! When I'm too lazy to read or write, I watch shows on Netflix or Crunchyroll. Sometime's it's an American work, sometimes it's Japanese.
Favorite animal and why: Foxes. Hands down. They're playful and sly and sneaky and cunning - often associated with tricksters and magic-wielders in many world cultures. They're a semi-social creature, preferring to be super social... on their own terms; needing occasional long-ish breaks from their usual social group. I share so much with foxes in my behavior and social tendencies, it's practically guaranteed that I would love them.
Favorite website: ArchiveOfOurOwn.org - It's the best repository for written work (fan based and original content) that I know of. The organization system is easy to navigate, and the vast majority of authors are A+. It's always the first place I go when I want to sate my book wyrm cravings. It's also the place where I post most of my own written work.
Favorite thing about EMC: I absolutely love our Community. From the newest of newlings to the most revered Aikar, EMC would not be the same without its people and the friendly atmosphere that fills our otherwise empty-but-beautiful structural halls. No matter how beautifully implemented or creatively crafted, it would be nothing without people to populate it.
Favorite color and why: Deep amethyst purple. It's a rich, vibrant color; evoking feelings of elegance and nobility. It's also a nice balance of blue and red, which is quite appealing to me on a more metaphorical level. Mostly, though, I just like the way it looks. It's a fairly calming hue ^_~*
Favorite Minecraft feature: Redstone. Without a doubt, redstone. I love creating contraptions and little machines to do my bidding. It's also quite satisfying to see something built from scratch working as intended. There's very little that compares to the feeling of solving such intricate puzzles the likes of which can be accomplished with a bit of cleverly-applied magic dust.
Favorite Minecraft block: Slime blocks are like the unsung heroes (or maybe just class clowns?) of Minecraft. They stick to everything, let you land safely, and can even launch you (and items) in whichever direction you please! They can be tricky to work with, given their grabby nature, but oh-so-very satisfying in the End.
If you were a mob in Minecraft, what would you be and what would you do? "Well, now you're just asking for it. ^_~* Building on my favorite animal, I'll pick a new mob for myself: the fox!
I would cause general mayhem in and around naturally generated structures (except the sea temples, of course). I would attack the smaller livestock, steal crops from the field (occasionally trampling a few spaces). I would also sneak into the village disguised as a villager (through the use of magic) every week to cause mayhem with random trade locking. I'd be a passive-until-provoked monster; quick like the ocelot, but less prone to run away - like the wolf.
I would appear white or light grey in snowy biomes, reddish or brown in regular biomes, and a pale sandy yellow in arid biomes. Upon death, I might drop a few shiny bits and baubles."
Favorite music: Augh! The most challenging question! I like so many styles of music, this is a really hard one for me. I haven't actually found a single genre of music that I haven't liked at least one song from. Japanese music is, by far, my favorite. Whether it's Japanese rock, pop, techno, anime-style, traditional - I love it all. My music tastes change quite often, but the prevailing pattern of the past two decades has been 'anything Japanese.'
Pets? No pets of my own, sadly, but I do play dog-aunt to a few friends' pets, and the neighbor's cat imprinted on me when she was a kitten. I borrow other people's pets, spoil them and give them affection, but then I always have to give them back. Perhaps one day I shall have one for myself.
If you had to lose one sense, what would it be? Probably fashion sense. It doesn't seem to be all that well-developed in me to begin with anyway, and I like all my other senses too much to give them up (humor, Community, agency, time, sight, etc).
Favorite cookie: Oatmeal Raisin. The kind that's a bit crunchy but still a bit chewy too, and just bursting with warm nutty flavors and notes of vanilla and raisins, and maybe just a hint of cinnamon.
Favorite quote: "A professional writer is an amateur who didn't quit." - Richard Bach
If you could meet one person, who would it be? "I'm going to define 'person' quite loosely here and say "Please introduce me to the TARDIS of Doctor Who!" (Y'know, from that one episode where we got to actually see her humanoid representation)
Oh? Real world? Boring. In that case, I suppose I'd like to meet Tokugawa Ieyasu, third of three leaders who progressively unified Japan and was renowned for his perseverance and vision."
Anything else you want to add? "I am a writer, a linguist, a violinist, a casual singer, and an experimental chef. I absolutely love hunts; scavenger hunts, treasure hunts, hide-and-seek - you name it.
I'm super chatty and enjoy meeting new people, so feel free to ask me about any-and-all things you're curious about or just want to talk about. My inbox is always open "

WA9ACE joined the Developer Team on December 1st, 2017. He joined EMC on February 7th, 2015.